Gujarat school students have to answer roll calls with 'Jai Hind' or 'Jai Bharat' from January 1

Come January 1, 2019, students of Gujarat schools will have to answer roll calls with “Jai Hind” or “Jai Bharat” instead of the current “yes sir” and “present sir” in order to foster patriotism, a notification issued on Monday stated. The notification, issued by the Directorate of Primary Education and Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), states that students of Class 1-12 in government, grant-in-aid and self-financed schools will have to respond to the attendance call with "Jai Hind" or "Jai Bharat," starting January 1.

The objective of the new practice is to "foster patriotism among students right from childhood," it said.

The decision was taken by the state Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama in a review meeting held on Monday, according to the notification.

News agency PTI reported that copies of the notification were sent to the district education officials with instructions to implement it from January 1. Minister Chudasama could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts.

In a similar move in May, students in government schools of Madhya Pradesh were asked to respond to their daily roll calls by saying Jai Hind.

The order signed by Pramod Singh, then deputy secretary of School Education Department, said in order to infuse the spirit of patriotism among school students it had been decided by the state government that students would have to answer their roll calls/attendance calls in the class with Jai Hind.

(With PTI inputs)